The world didn’t end and that makes me happy because I now get to attend what is possibly the greatest trade show in the world. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time where we turn our attention to Las Vegas and all the new technology to look forward to in the upcoming years being displayed at this year’s show. CES (Consumer Electronic Show) is held January 8-11 and we will be bringing enthusiasts all the latest updates at the show here at Gaming Illustrated but for now, let’s look at some of the tech that is anticipated to show up.

1) On the gaming front I don’t expect to see anything groundbreaking like a press release on the PlayStation 4 or the next Xbox (those will be for E3 2013) but I do expect to see the big boys of gaming accessories to show up with their new lineups for 2013. Expect companies like Nyko to show a lot of their new accessories, specifically with a focus on the Wii U, and NVIDIA showing off their six series graphics cards for the PC. One specific company I am looking forward to writing more about is Valve. Valve is rumored to be showing prototypes of their SteamBox which is supposed to make the PC more living room friendly which I am all for. CES is not really known as the gaming mecca it once was seeing as how most gaming news is shown during E3 now. One thing that is still going strong at CES are video displays…

2) Video displays, and to be more specific, televisions are huge at CES. That’s always a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing because I love big bright moving objects on a screen. The bad news? Most of all the new display technology being seen at this year’s CES is in fact not new. This CES will show such things as 4K televisions and OLED which we already saw at CES 2012. Expect to see more consumer level versions of these technologies, especially the 4K televisions, with companies Sony and LG already releasing 4K TVs to consumers this year (well outside of the everyday person’s price range, unless you have over $20k). Also expect to see a lot of “connected” televisions at CES 2013. With tablets and new phones at the show from every company who also makes televisions, there will be a lot of connection type content being shown. A big push in 2013 for consumers will be using phones and tablets as second screens for behind-the-scenes and director commentary type features. I could even see this going as far as linking up to your Facebook or Twitter and letting others know that you might be watching the same thing.

3) Finally I get to the one thing I love to hate. Audio. I must be tone deaf or something is wrong with my ears because I can be next to a $100,000 speaker set up and it sounds just like a home theater in a box to me. It’s the same thing with headphones. Nevertheless, I love audio because I am a music junkie and have to have music playing around me. I don’t expect to see anything awe inspiring or groundbreaking this year in the audio department but you never know at CES. I do expect to see a lot of wireless solutions both for home audio and portable audio. Also speaking of portable audio: expect to see a lot of companies with audio docks that will now support the Lightning dock for iPhone 5 and 4th Generation iPad users.

While it seems like there aren’t a lot of new things coming soon, this is just a tiny taste of all the CES has to over. Stay tuned for more preview coverage and floor updates during the show.